Friday, June 29, 2007

Marcie, I didn't take a picture of the stitchery that I'm working on but I AM going to take it out on the boat with me!!! LOL I have even bought me a special 'toolbox' to put my sewing 'gear' in for boating trips!!! :D Guess I'll have to just jump in after it if a big wake dumps it overboard (yeah, right, like uhhh I'm NOT the best swimmer in the world!) ROFL, but one does what one has to do!!! LOL

Here are a few more spool blocks. Haven't made any the last couple of days. My energy level dropped out of sight, so I gave in to Randy today and called the dr. to start me back on the synthroid again. They had taken me off of it last month and said let them know if I noticed a difference. Weeelllll, YES, a HUGE difference. So I'll start back on it tomorrow, and hopefully, will notice some change within a couple of weeks.

I have been doing some embroidery that I had drawn out while waiting to see if I could find the issue of Country Threads that I wanted (the one Sheila 'aubirdwoman' sent to me :D). Haven't taken pictures of it yet but I will soon. Enjoy your weekend!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Look!!! All the way from SheilaC (Australian Birdwoman) in Australia!! Not ONLY the Country Threads issue I was looking (begging??:0) for, but this hand-stitched embroidery piece! Aren't blogging buddies just the best??? For someone who was really really hesitant about trying out the blogging world, I have made some of the most wonderful, generous and caring friends that I've ever had. Thank you soooo much, Sheila, for your generosity and friendship. :D Now I want to get some of the stitcheries transferred to muslin so I'll have handwork to take with me on the boat!! :D

Dewey and Badger got a new toy each the other day. Badger is always so cute with a new toy...he just walks around with it hanging from his mouth, and he looks so funny cause he's so short, and sometimes the toys are almost as big as he is. :) Dewey's just a little old man now and doesn't get to het up about new toys---only if he wants to let me know that it's his dinnertime and I'm not paying attention. He'll grab a toy up and start trying to shred it to make me pay attention to him (read food bowl). ROFL Sometimes he'll grab one of Badger's favorites just to aggravate his little brother. What would I do without my "boys"? LOL

I'm up to 17 spool blocks now! Can you believe it??? ROFL Pictures of those later. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

I know, two posts in one day--what's the world coming to??? LOL But I was just sitting on the porch enjoying a glass of ice tea , and it's just soooo good (and not so bad for you either--no sugar added to this brew LOL) that I thought I would share the recipe, with all cudos going, of course, to Ina, the Barefoot Contessa! :)
4 cups apple juice
4 red zinger tea bags (I use whatever berry tea bags I have on hand)
4 lemon zinger tea bags (I use Green Tea Citrus flavor)
4 cups water
Bring water to a boil and steep all the tea bags together for 8 minutes.
Mix tea and apple juice in pitcher. Chill and enjoy!

I just made my second trip with my canvas bags that I found on sale at WalMart last week. I was going to make me some, and still may make a couple of 'pretties' to carry around, but these were such a good price and so sturdy that I went ahead and bought a bunch of them. Had them load those puppies up with my groceries, etc., the very same day I bought them. :) I have just gotten back from a trip to the Post Office, Family Dollar, and a small grocery store that's near out P. O. The Family Dollar and IGA loaded those canvas bags and didn't bat an eye! Am I pleased or WHAT???? YESSSS! Also found out that IGA offers paper bags as well! I'm soooo glad to know that. I will be using paper at their store from now on IF I don't have a canvas with me OR not enough canvas bags with me. :D I'm determined to at least rid myself of as many of those plastic bags they're using in every store in the whole country as I can.

I made two more spool blocks before bed last night. Mmmmm, Darlene, looks like you're right again---they ARE addictive!! That's all I've thought about the whole time I've been out running around today (necessary chores)---I wanna go home and make SPOOL BLOCKS!!! LOL

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Can you believe it??? I actually pieced these blocks today. Vicky started it, and then Darlene chimed in, so since I love the block, I decided it was time to make me some too! :D These are really fast and easy to make, so I plan on making lots more in the future.

My volunteer sunflowers are starting to bloom, and they look so cute with my bee balm. I also have this pale yellow lily that I need to put back in the ground somewhere. It's been in that pot a couple of months now.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Sheila (Aussie BirdWoman) has the Country Threads magazine and is willing to part with it!!!! Yea!!!! Isn't she just THE BEST!!! :D

Gudrun asked if Badger Baby left his paw prints in the driveway. LOL It does look very wet, doesn't it? We had just hosed it down to cool it, so it was actually dry enough that he didn't leave his prints there. HOWEVER, I put Badger's and Dewey's (his big brother *g*) footprints, names and date in the last section that they poured, which will be where I park my car when I come in with groceries, etc. Just could not resist it. I grin every time I see it. Randy asked how I will feel when they are 'gone' and I see it every time I go out. They will never be gone from my heart, so I think that I will be so very glad that I did that. :)

We've been out on the boat again for about an hour this evening. Oh my goodness, I DO LOVE this boat...and I am learning to drive it to...so we can have quilt retreats, family gatherings, girls' day out, you name it, at Ships' Landing!!! :D See why I need to get me some embroidery prepped now??? (Like I don't have a single book or magazine with embroidery patterns in them LOL)

It's getting late, and I still have paperwork that has to be done for a 9:00 a.m. mediation in the morning. Sweet dreams!

Hmmm, I can't get Bloglines to connect this a.m. Keep getting DNS Error. So I can't go 'visiting' with my coffee this morning. :( We had a 10-min. hard wind/rain storm yesterday evening which left us without power for about 5 hours last night. I wish we could have had the rain for a looonnng time without the wind/storm part. :) And of course we were really worried about how the pontoon would do on the dock. It all got turned a bit, and one of the mooring lines broke, but we were able to get everything fixed so all was okay with that. The biggest worry I have is how I will handle a similar situation if it happens when Randy is gone for several days to a show. Will have to alert a couple of people who live nearby that I may be calling on them for help sometime in the future. :)

As luck would have it, I had just gone back to the sewing room. Can you believe that??? So I didn't make much progress at all, but at least I TRIED to sew some. LOL UPS brought a package from Fat Quarter Shop the other day---I had ordered some Celebrate Spring charm packs (cuz I'm a Darlene 'wannabe' ROFL). I was absolutely sure that I was going to make me a topper like hers, and I still am going to do that, but I'm trying to decide if I want to make a tabletopper out of the 4-patches that I've sewn so far, OR do I want to attempt to make me a shoulder bag with them. I'm not good (not at all) at reading those bag patterns but I've really really been wanting to make me a new bag. I also would like to make some simple, large bags l that I could use for grocery shopping. I'd have to have a truck load of them for the grocery shopping that I do since I only manage to go about every 2-3 weeks. ROFL

Badger Baby was the first one to walk on the new concrete driveway...as a matter of fact, he was the first one to walk on every section that was poured. LOL We have finally gotten all of it poured, now we're having to let it cure until Sunday or Monday before driving on it. It looks really nice...we lucked up with this concrete guy, he did a great job and was more than reasonable on his final bill. We are very very pleased.

The flower is a balloon flower (I think). It's just gorgeous! I planted it last year and thought it had completely died out but waalaa here it is this Spring and I have sooo enjoyed it. :)

The moth is just a beauty. We think it's called a Luna Moth, but somebody correct me if you know what kind it is. :p

Yum, had to show my charm packs that I got this week. I can hardly believe that I have already cut into one pack. Absolutely unheard of for me---could I be turning over a new leaf??? Actually going to 'cut and sew' some of this TON of fabric that's laying around here dry-rotting? ROFL

And of course, I had to leave you with a picture of 'how the garden grows' (it's actually grown a lot since this picture was taken). :)

Saturday, June 09, 2007

I'm following in my friend, Nadine's, footsteps, and putting out the word that I'm looking (pleading/begging/uh, ok LOL) for this issue of Australian Country Threads Vol. 3 No. 10. If anyone has this issue and would be willing to part with it, OR if any of my American and/or Aussie blogging buddies might have a back issue in their quilt shops, I would be more than happy to buy the magazine (and, of course, shipping). All help will be IMMENSELY appreciated!!! :D

Friday, June 08, 2007

We are in the midst of having our driveway poured in concrete (it's a really really big driveway). They started Monday, and probably by Wednesday I'm out pestering the Man In Charge. Well, low and behold!! his wife is a quilter! Yes, you read that right--she's a QUILTER!! Not only is she a quilter, but she HAND-QUILTS ALLLLL of her quilts. So last night I got a call from his wife, her name is Jean, and she was calling to invite me to come check out the local quilt guild (next meeting isn't until the first Friday in July, I just missed the one of June), and to fill me in a bit about the activities that the guild participate in. So of course, I invite her to 'come on over one day', she says she will before her husband finishes our concrete work. Well, I'm on the computer this a.m. doing a blog-run, and Randy yells in "Hey Angie, you have a visitor." My initial response is "Oh NOOO"--well, of course, my house is a wreck--you can barely walk into or out of my sewing room--you get the picture. Anyway, it was Jean. She came to meet me. :D No, she did NOT call before coming, and to her credit, our messy house didn't seem to phase her one bit. LOL Now, I ask you, what are the chances that this would be the very same woman that was in the checkout line behind me in WalMart probably about a month ago and we strike up a conversation about quilting (of course there were quilt-related items mingled in amongst the groceries LOL). Yep, you got it, the one and the same. Now, is this PROVIDENCE, SMALL WORLD, or what??? ROFL Anyway, she was delightful, the visit was delightful, she was here, what, maybe 3 hours ! (I could have sworn she wasn't here any longer than an hour!!!!), and we are making plans to get together and 'cut and sew'! Now, I haven't had ANY real urge to go play in my fabric and thread in how long? Ages!! Well, I can tell you, I was really really excited when she left, and now I'm all fired up again about, YES! QUILTING!!! So, stay tuned cause, uh Darlene, I think I'm leaving the birds and garden for quilting (FINALLY, Darlene Yells). ROFL
I actually had spray-basted a tablerunner early this a.m., and was contemplating turning the sewing machine on to give it a quick diagonal quilt. So, I had been thinking more about maybe doing a LITTLE bit of quilting, even prior to my fun surprise visit! :D

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

a picture of a zuchinni blossom!!! And I have tomatoes on the vine!! AWESOME!!! I even have a zuchinni on the vine, and I have several tee-tiny yellow squash coming on!! You have no idea how thrilled I am! I plant stuff every year, and usually the critters end up eating the plants before they can make anything. And I also am trying to grow veggies in unamended (more or less) clay (my compost is growing but it takes time). Soooooo, this year I ended up putting most of my plants in containers just to see if I would have any more luck that way. Obviously, I'm having more luck with them in the pots than I ever have with them in the ground. *huge grins*

Monday, June 04, 2007

Nathan and Renee made it here safely about 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The weekend flew by! As luck would have it, after all of the sunshine, heat, and no rain that has been our weather for the last month, we had cooler, cloudy weather with a thunderstorm thrown in for good measure. They still got on the jet ski and went for a boat ride in our little fishing boat. On Saturday afternoon, our pontoon boat was delivered, so even though we couldn't put it in the water yet (had to register the thing, pay sales tax, etc. today), it was still a nice surprise for Nathan. Now he knows it will be here when he comes for his next visit. :) Even Homer Kitty had to check out the new boat motor. :D We really enjoyed them both, and much to my delight, Renee is a massage therapist! :D Well of course ! I had to get a mini-massage!!! LOL As for food, we took them to our favorite place for 'all you can eat catfish' on Friday night, had regular lasagne for the guys and veggie lasagne for the girls on Saturday night, and lots of fresh veggies in pita pockets for lunches. So I don't think anyone went hungry. :)

Today, the crew showed up to pour us a concrete driveway, so my puttering around outside was limited, and will be for the next couple of days, I'm sure. More later.